1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic feeder and an image acquiring apparatus, and more particularly to an automatic feeder with separable transmission gears and an image acquiring apparatus using such automatic feeder.
2. Related Art
In a conventional automatic feeder, a force for disengaging a motor gear from a transporting roller gear is typically provided by a spring. When a cover is opened with respect to a body, the spring pushes the gear away. In this mechanism, a downward pressing force has to be additionally provided to overcome the force of the spring and to thus close the cover upon the body. Hence, the user often encounters the problem in closing the cover upon the body. If the downward pressing force of the cover exerted on the body is insufficient, the poor gear meshing between the motor gear and the transporting roller gear may cause the gear slippage. Also, the cover closing upon the body may produce an abrupt shock on the internal components of the feeder, thereby causing, eventually, shift of the mounting positions of these components and negative impact on the scan quality or the print quality.